Re: Just how real is violence? And where does Aikido stands in all of this?

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Lyle Laizure wrote:

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Long Trinh wrote:

Greetings all,

Unless you do things like walking alone in the Bronx at midnight, get really drunk and start chatting up someone's girlfriend, or stare at somebody on the street (in all of these cases frankly you are messing up and you got it coming),

You have it coming? This is rediculous! Since when is it ok to physically attack someone for any of the reasons you listed? You can't really mean this.

Yeah, I kinda ignored this part earlier, but since it has come up...

There are few scenarios when physical conflict is the correct solution, either on the initiating end or the receiving end. No one should have "anything coming" for most decisions; that said, as I posted earlier you should reduce your chances for...miscommunication.

As a later post comments, we have some control over the situations in which we place ourselves. Sometimes not as much as we'd like, but there you go. I do not excuse poor behavior. If a guy is really intent up picking a fight because you looked at him or talked to his girl, he is gonna pick a fight - we are just haggling over the "why". We need to recognize the intent and look past the why. Because if he cannot find a reason to fight with you, he'll find it with the next guy.

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There is a civil expectation of boundaries.

Not necessarily. I think this is a major problem with some of the violence in the US. People pick fights because they think they will [successfully] get away with it. Your actions may facilitate their decision-making process, but they are considering whether or not it is "worth it" to pick a fight with you. I think the above example of intimidation is not uncommon in urban environments and clearly falls outside the realm of "civil".

We intimidate because we can. It advances our personal status. Wanna know why I am chatting your girlfriend? Because I am better than you. Wanna know why I am staring you down? Because I am higher status than you. Wanna know why I am stealing from you? Because I want your money. These are not "civil" behaviors, but they are primal behaviors. Don't excuse the behavior, but recognize it for what it is...